Cyke'd Up Lock-Up
by Hazuzu
Summary: Ever since the trial of The Phantom, Athena Cykes has wondered about the relationship between her mother and Aura Blackquill. A visit to Aura's prison is the only way she can find the truth...


Prison was starting to become familiar to Aura Blackquill. She was separated from most of the world, but she'd been like that for the last seven years. The guards may well have been robots with a little less personality. The inmates… They may have been a problem for some, but she wasn't about to be intimidated by common scoundrels.

Besides, the Blackquill reputation had made its rounds. Even with Simon exonerated, people put respect on the name. She didn't carry around a sword… But then, neither did Simon, yet everyone believed he did. Perhaps that was an aspect of his power of suggestion.

"You have a visitor," One of the many guards had informed her one morning. Of course it was going to be Simon, because who else would visit her? She'd done more than enough to burn the rest of her bridges in the wake of Metis' death. One bad day meant a harsh word, enough harsh words meant another person lost, and that meant worse days to follow. Perhaps she could do something about that once she was released, if the rest of her friends hadn't moved on without her.

The visiting room was a dismal hall of wooden partitions, glass walls, and uncomfortable seats. At least she'd have her privacy, Aura mused to herself, as she strolled down to her designated spot. Except for the guard, but what was another pair of vigilant eyes?

Aura planted herself in the chair and lifted her eyes to meet her guest. Blue eyes, ginger hair, and wearing a bright blue ribbon.

"You're not Simon," Aura said, as much voicing her inner monologue as accusing her guest of a surprise.

"Yeah, I know." Athena's lips were lifted in a smile, but it didn't take a mood matrix to see her nerves. Her fingers drumming on her lap, her eyes refusing to settle, and a certain breathiness to her voice. Aura had seen those signs dozens of times before, but seeing them on Metis' daughter felt wrong. Like they'd been stolen. "I'm Athena Cykes, Attorney fo-"

"I know who you are, princess." Aura rolled her eyes. "What I want to know is what you're doing here. Apologies and convictions and all, I know I wouldn't want to see me, after all I've done."

"Right..." Athena sighed and a sad blue face lit up on Widget. "I'll get straight to it. I want to talk to you about mom."

"I see." Aura's eyes narrowed and she leaned back against her chair. It creaked, which rather diluted the atmosphere. But then, she wouldn't be able to hide anything from Athena regardless, would she? Even without the device around Athena's neck, she'd be able to pluck emotions out of the air. "And what could I possibly know that Simon won't serve for? Isn't he a friend of your Agency now?"

"Yeah. He's been nice to have around." Athena flashed another smile. "But Simon… He's private, you know? Especially about this. You're the only one who can tell me about it. I wouldn't be here if he didn't say I should ask you myself."

"Well." Aura exhaled. "I can't promise I'll be useful, but I am at your mercy, princess. Ask whatever you would of me."

"Are you sure?" Athena looked both ways as she leaned in. "You can have some time to get ready. I might go for a run first. Build up some confidence, you know?"

"Out with it!" Aura couldn't help but laugh when Athena nearly jumped out of her chair. "Sorry. I'll say one thing, you're just as easy to startle as Metis."

Athena made a noise not unlike a growl and Widged briefly glowed red, until she calmed herself with an inhale.

"What do you mean, one thing?"

"You look nothing like Metis." Aura shrugged. "Your eyes, your hair, your smile, your ears, your jawline… It's hard to think of you as her daughter, just from looking at you."

"That must have made it easier to blame me, huh?" To her credit, Athena glanced away just after she said it. Aura had to respect that; it was more self-awareness than she'd had after Metis' death.

"Who knows?" Aura shrugged. "Metis was the one who dealt in hearts." She spotted the light in Athena's eyes. "And don't even think about counseling me." It died just as quickly, followed by matching frowns on Athena and Widget. "You should really consider upgrading that device. At least so not everyone can see exactly what you're thinking."

"No way!" Athena shook her head. "Widget has just as much right to express itself as anyone else."

"Really?" Aura cocked an eyebrow. "From what I've seen, it's nothing more than a program that serves as an interface for the Mood Matrix."

"How would you know?" Athena huffed. "You said that you didn't work on artificial intelligence."

"… Point."

"Yeah, it is!" Athena's smile froze for a few seconds. "We got sidetracked, didn't we? Sorry. Like I said, I'm here to hear about mom. And you. And… The relationship that you had?"

Aura did her best to keep her eyes on Athena's. To stop herself from pulling up the pail in the well of sorrow she'd built inside herself. If she started feeling, she'd start getting angry, and when she got angry… Athena had already felt far too much of that.

"Ask your questions," Aura said.

"That's it?" Athena blinked. "You're not going to...evade the questions, try to make me find evidence or something?"

"No, go ahead. I don't particularly like owing people things, so consider my forthrightness some small compensation."

"Okay. Right into it. Full steam ahead," Athena said. "Into the breach. Allons-y. Uh… Were you and mom together?"

"Together." Aura laughed a bitter laugh. "For too short a time, we were. But if you mean whether we were in a relationship..." She couldn't start crying. She would not do that. Not in front of the princess. "I was. She wasn't. I think unrequited is the word?"

"Oh..." Athena breathed. "That… Oh. So you were never…?"

"Metis wasn't compatible with me. Oh, I wish she had been. Wouldn't that have been lovely? When I was younger, I might have been spiteful, but I was wise enough when we met. I couldn't blame her for who she was, and I was happy I got to spend as much time as I did with her. Platonic life partners is more than a lot of people get." Aura ran her tongue over her teeth. "And it's more than either of us ended up getting."

"I'm sorry..." Athena rubbed her arm with her opposite hand.

"We've well established that there's nothing for you to be sorry for."

"Well," Widget's expression twisted down. "I miss her, too."

"Miss her? You didn't know the woman." Aura scoffed. "You thought she was torturing you for her research until a month ago. You know nothing of the woman Metis was. You didn't see how kind she was. You didn't see how passionately she felt for her work, for the things she cared about, for you. You didn't see the little smile on her face whenever she solved a problem, or how she'd hum when she got frustrated, or any of the wonderful things that made that woman one in seven billion."

"So tell me!" Athena slammed her hands on the pane of the glass. "I can't know any of those things if somebody doesn't tell me what mom was really like!" Aura's neck shifted back and she glanced away from the furious face of her beloved's daughter.

"… I was being cruel again, wasn't I?" Aura clucked her tongue. "I'm sorry."

"That's okay," Athena said, then gave both of them a chance to gather their thoughts before she spoke again. "Did you know my dad?"

"No. Whoever he was, he hadn't been with Metis for quite some time."

"Oh..." Athena drummed her fingers along her lap again. "I came here with all kinds of questions and now it seems like all of them were cleared up already. I thought it would take longer."

"Sometimes life is depressingly simple." Aura shrugged. "Is there anything else you'd like to know? Anything at all?"

"Well… I'd really like to know more about my mom. Stories about what she was like, when she was with you, when she was working, that kind of thing?" Athena's question came with a smile. "Just stories, as many as you have!"

Aura took one long look at Athena. From the hopeful smile on her face to the nervous tapping of her fingers, from the coddled AI around her neck to the moonstone piercing in her ear. While she couldn't say that Athena looked like Metis, there was more than enough of Metis in her mannerisms to know that she was her daugher.

"I suppose I can do that much." Aura nodded. "Assuming you're willing to put up with me."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Really really?"

"Are we really going to do this?" Aura asked.

"Molto bene!" Athena grinned. "It's a date!"

"Alright, don't oversell it." Aura uncrossed her legs, but couldn't stop her smile. Not long ago, she would have dreaded seeing Athena even once a year. But she was looking more like Metis' daughter with every second, and that was someone she could never see herself hating.


End file.
